Urgup, a lively tourist center at the foot of a rock riddled with old dwellings, serves as an excellent base from which to tour the sights of Cappadocia. In Urgup itself you can still see how people once lived in homes cut into the rocks. If you wish to buy carpets and kilims, there is a wide selection available from the town’s many carpet dealers. These characters are as colorful as their carpets, offering tea, coffee or a glass of wine to their customers and engaging in friendly conversation.
If ‘sightseeing and shopping haven’t exhausted you, the disco welcomes you to another kind of entertainment. At the center of a successful wine producing region, Urgup hosts an annual International Wine Festival in October. Leaving Urgup and heading to the south, you reach the lovely isolated Pancarlik Valley where you can stop to see the 12th century church with its splendid frescoes, and the Kepez church which dates from the tenth century. Continuing on to the typical village of Mustafapasa (Sinasos), the traditional stone houses with carved and decorated facades evoke another age.
Still travelling in a southerly direction, just past the village of Cemil, a footpath on the west side of the road leads to Keslik Valley where you will find a monastery complex and the Kara Kilise and Meyvali churches, both of which are decorated with frescoes. Back on the main road you come to the village of Taskinpasa where the 14th century Karamanid Mosque and Mausoleum Complex, and the remains of a medrese portal on the edge of town, make for a pleasant diversion. The next village is Sahinefendi where the 12th century Kirksehitler church, with beautiful frescoes, stands at the end of a footpath 500 meters east of the village.
Soganli, 50 km south of Urgup, is a picturesque valley of innumerable chapels, churches, halls, houses and tombs. The frescoes, from the 8th to the 13th century, trace the development of Byzantine painting. Four kilometres north of Urgup is the wonderful Devrent Valley where the weather has eroded the stone into peaks, cones and obelisks called fairy chimneys.
Two kilometres to the west, in the Catalkaya Valley, the fairy chimneys have a peculiar mushroom like shape, which has been adopted as a symbol of the town. Kadi Castle, This rock castle was a place of refuge for women and children during times of danger. A tunnel opened to the Damsa River, constructed for the purpose. Most of the building has since collapsed mainly due to erosion, but the undamaged section is open to visitors.
Main events
October: International Urgup Wine Festival.
Major Sights, Places To See
Goreme Open Air Museum, The famous churches (Elmali Church, Yilanli Church, St. Barbara Church, Carikli Church, Tokali Church, Karanlik Church), The underground cities of Kaymakli, Mazi, Derinkuyu and Ozkonak.
Access
By Road
Intercity buses stop at the bus station in Urgup, with many more in the summer. Services include one or two buses a day to Istanbul 11 hours), Antalya (10 hours) and Adana (5 hours), and many more to Ankara (5 hours). By changing at Nevsehir, there are even more buses available. There are regular dolmuses to Kayseri (90 mins) and Nevsehir (15 mins), as well as Goreme. The bus station is in the centre of town.
By Air
The nearest connection is from the new Nevsehir Airport, near the village of Tuzkoy, with twice weekly flights from Istanbul. Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, 300 km from Urgup – Goreme.
Climate
From season to season, the climate is quite extreme. Summers are hot and dry, with warm nights. Winters are cold and it can even snow, while spring and autumn are mild.